Apparatus for manufacturing composition board.



J. PERLA. APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING COMPOSITION BOARD'.APPLICATONVFILED 1ULYl5, l9l2. RENEWED MAY 27,1916.

Patented Sept. 26, 1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

l/vI/E/vron wmf/58358.

ATTORNEY J. PERLA.

APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING COMPOSITION BOARD.

APPLICATION man 1uLYI5. |912. RENEwED MAY 27.1916.

Patented Sept. 26, 1916.

3' SHEETS-SHEET 2.

IN VEN TOI? A TTUH/VEY I. FERLA..

APPARATUS roe NANUFACTUATNG coNPosTTmN BUANU. v APPLICATION FILED JULY'15. |912. NENEwEU MAY 21.1916. A l1 l 99,683 Patented Sept. 26, 1916.

, T 3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

WNESSES.' r v v I JOHANN FERLA, or roUGHKEEPsIE, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR- ToAMERICAN MINERAL WOOD MANUFACTURING COMPANY, Av CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING COMPOSITION BOARD.

Specification of Letters Patent.

I lApplication 1ed July 15, 1912, Serial No. .$709,438. Renewed May 27,A1916. Serial No. 100,378.

T o all whom t may concern l Be it known that I, JOHANN FERLA, a citizenof Switzerland, and a resident of Poughkeepsie, in the county ofDutchess and State of New York, have invented cer-- tain new and usefulImprdvenients'in Apparatus for Manufacturing Composition Board, ofwhich-the .following is a specilication.

This invention relates -to-apparatus for the manufacture of compositionboard from plastic material.' v

The princlpal object of this invention is to provide an apparatus ofthis character which is adapted to treat the plastic material when takenin a comparatively dry state.

- A further object is to provide efficient Ameans for extracting themoisture from the material and to prevent its adherence to the 4pressurerolls.

A further object of this invention is to. provide means whereby thecomposition board before being subjected to its'final pressure isautomatically deposited upon a spacing plate which makes itA possible tosubject a plurality of layers of board to' pressure simultaneously. 1

A still further'object isv'to provide means for coating the materialwith a'layer or film of non-adhesive material for the purpose ofpreventing the adhesion of the layers when they are subjectedsimultaneously to pressure. v

Further objects and advantages willl hereinafter appear.

enlarged scale, illustrating the construction` of the rolls and guidesshown in Fig. 3 and illustrating the passage of the belt 'andmaterialtherebetween. Fig. 6 is' ajdetail il'- '50 ulustrating the method ofadjustment of the` cutter knife. Fig. 7 is a fragmental detailillustrating the conveyei.A chain' foru the plates. Fig. 8 is anvelevation of thedstructure illustrated'in Fig. 7.

A .55 The-material is first mixed the proper proportions and-givenv theproper amount of consistency before it is introduced into my improvedapparatus. The jlatter is deslgned for handlingthe material in acomparatively dry state, containing considerably j less moisture thanthe material handled in the apparatus disclosed in my prior Patent, No.940,449 granted November 16th, 1909. The material after being -so mixedand treated, is fed into hopper 1 in any suitable manner. Communicatingwith this hopper is a cylindrical chamber 2 in which are 'mounted a pairof rolls'3 which are rotated in the direction to feed the materialdownward from the hopper 1. Rolls '3 may be adjusted relativelyto eachotherby any desiredadjusting v means as 4. A shaft 5, driven throughsuitable gearing from the shaft 6,` connected `to anyavailable source ofpower, extends past-the rolls 3 which arev grooved at 7 to accommodatethe passage of the shaft therebetween, and rotates ascrewconveyer 8`which feeds the material downward as itis deposited thereon by the rolls3. Mounted below the screw conveyer are a pair of steel rolls 9adjustable to and from'- each other by any desiredadjusting means 10.

These rolls roughly gage the thickness of the sheet of material whichultimately forms the composition board.V Theinaterial thus fed out fromthe conveyer is compara? tively/dry but still. has more moisture than isdesirable for purposes ofthe final compression thereof and Idrying. Inorder to remove Athis surplus moisture, the lsheet of materialafter-passing from the rolls 9 is deposited upon lan endless belt 11formed of canvas or like absorbent .material and is 'fed through a pair.of steel rolls 12'and 13, by vmeans of which rolls the sheet isslightly v compressed. thus expressing the moisture therefrom which isabsorbed-by the absorbentmaterial of the belt and also gaging thethickness of the sheet. It is found that the material whenv thushandled, while it is .in

a comparatively dry state, is very sticky and is liable-toadhere to thesurface of the presser rolls. To avoid this sticking of the f materialand alsoto increase the eiicgiency of the moisture extracting operation,the

sheet afterpassing rolls 13, fispassed between rolls 14, theupper vofwhich has an 'l endless belt 14of a more absorbent material than canvassuch as felt passing thereover. lFrom this point on, the material 1s notcon- 110 Patented sept. 2e. i916. y

tacted directly by the rolls but is contacted above and below by twobelts of absorbent I Jflaterial which absorb the moisture Vtherefromboth from below land above and also efectually prevent anyj of thematerial sticking to the rollers. The canvas belt is driven l ablegearing.

The. material after passing roll a is fed along past the bridging plate16Lon to the endless belt 17.driv'en by the roll 18. This belt may bealso .offelt or like absorbent material, and together with "the feltbelt 14a', it removes the moisture from the material s'o far as it ispossible to do so by the application of the absorbent material thereon;Rolls 14 already referred' to and rolls 19, 2Q, 21, 22 and23 which'arespaced along the line of travel of the sheet between the belts, areadjustable toward andfrom each otherv and serve Yto vcompress thematerial between the absorbent belts to moisture therefrom.

After passing out from under the belt 14a, the sheet is carried along bythe belt 17 past the steel rolls 244 and 2,5 which gage thematerial toits 1final thickness before the .hy-

draulic compressiomand then-the sheet is cut into the proper lengths bymeans of a knife 26, after which the individual lengths are conveyed -tobe piled one ony top of the other and be subjected to the finalcompression by means of a hydraulic press. Inorder to prevent theadhesion of the sheets toeach other when thus subjected to the final,compression, I provide mechanism whereby the individual sheets as theyare v4fed out are placed upon spacing platesl from which they canbereadily detached. This detachment is further assured by means of a coatl 4-5 lof'oil or like non-adhesive fluid with which I coat the sheetsrand plates before vthey are placed over each other. The coating of oilv .the-rolls.

isl applied onthe top fof the sheets by the -gage rolls 24 and 25, whichcoating also prevents the sticking of 'the material to the rolls.- Thevmechanism for performing these functions, is a's follows: Mounted abovethe rolls 24 and 25 are'oil reservoirs 27 and 28 having valves orpet-cocks 29 extending downwardly therefrom and `supplying a.

regulatable amount ofoil on the top of the vrolls 24l and 25. Felt rollsor wipers 30 are mounted rearwardly of rolls 24 and 25 and spread theoil evenly upon the surface of The sheet of lmaterial thus receives aneven coating of oil on its upper surface as itpasses between rolls24-and 25;

After the sheet passes ofi from the belt 17, Y

. it is deposited upon afsteel plate 31 upon which itis carried.andywhich .acts as a spacer therefor when the sheets are piled on?express the la lower floor is an inclined conveyera 32 h'aving a pair ofendless chains 32a driven by sprocket wheels 33 from a convenient sourceof power as from the shaft 15b which drives the conveyor belts and therolls 24 and 25, etc. Adjacent to the bottom end of the inclinedconveyer 32 is a table or platform 34 having mounted thereon a pair offeed rolls l34aL between which the plates 31 are placed and whence theyare fed to the inclined conveyer 32 and are engaged by the hooks 35formed on the chains 32a and conveyed to the table 36 forming acontinuation of the table on which the sheets of material are carried.The oil reservoir 37 is provided adjacent to the point of entrance ofthe plates between the rolls 34a and a film of -oil isdeposited'therefrom upon the upper surface of the plates 31 as they arefed through the rolls 34a. A drip pan 38 is proi vided below the rolls34a to catchjthe surplus of oil run-ning off from the rolls and plates.Brushes 39 clean the plates below and above as they pass to the chains32a. Any desired means lmay be employed for placing the plates on thechains so as to cause the hooks tov engage the bottom of the plates. Ifdesired, this may be done manually by` the 'attendant who feeds theplates torrolls 34. When the plates reach the table 36 they run into'guides 40 formed below the guides for the sheets of material.

The pressure exerted by the hooks 35 in feeding the plates upward willcause the -latter tov bend around so as to follow the horizontal path ofthe guides while their lowerV ends are engaged by the hooks 35. Theplate in thus passing under the material `and. being fed simultaneouslytherewith at the same speed receives any desired length of materialthereon which is determined by the operator. When a sufficient amount ofmaterial has passed upon a plate, the operator turns the knife so as tocu't the requisite length which passes olf on the plate conveyed by thechain 32a. Rotary knives 41 mountedon the shaft 42 driven fromanysuitable source of power as from the roll '25,

- cut the material at Iits'edges for .the purpose of'determiningtheproper width thereof. After the plate with the sheet of material thereontravelsoff from the chains 32, itis guided down aninclined run-way.

a differential pulley 47 attachedto a suitable support 48.

Referring`to Figs. 3 and 5 which illustrate the manner in which thematerial is guided between the rolls, the belt 11 eX- tends the fulllength of roll 125 under the guide 49 which runs the full length of thetable. This guide 49 is placed at each .end of the upper rolls whichthey snugly contact. The lower edge of these guides is formed with afacing 50 of leather, rubber or some such comparatively soft materialfor contacting with thebelt and minimizing wear thereon. The material isthus confined between the guides, facing, and belt and does not 'spreadwhen compressed by the' rolls for the purpose of expressing the moisturetherefrom.

To prevent any accumulation of material upon the rolls, I provide aknife 52 for each of the steel rolls upon the forward side thereof andplace at the proper angle to scrape any material which may adherethereto. At the rear side of rolls 20, 21 and 23 are mounted troughs 53having an edge bearing against the side of the roll to scrape away lanyparticles lof materia] adhering thereto. In these troughs are mountedconveyers 54 of any suitable type to carry the material scraped away toany suitable point for discharge. These troughs thus scrape off any finematerial which may percolate through the belt and adhere to the rolls.

Any suitable means may be used for cleaning the belts and extracting themoisture therefrom after passing rearwardly or upwardly fromthe table onthe return path. The canvas belt 11 may be washed by a stream of waterplayed thereon by a nozzle 55 and the particles of material which mayadhere thereto after the belt passes this nozzle will be finally removedby agitating the belt by means of an agitator 56 mounted at any suitablepoint below this nozzle. The belt 17 also has adjacent its run below thetable, a nozzle 57 and any agitator 5.8 operating in the same manner asthe corresponding parts for belt 11. After belt 17 travels past thenozzle and agita-tor, it passes through a pair of rolls 59, the upper ofwhich is held yieldingly downward by means of a weight (SO on a lever 61upon which this upper roll is mounted. A compression of the beltYbetween these two rolls extracts the moisture.

therefrom and renders it comparatively dry and adapted to again extractmoisture from the material which it is to contact. The belt 14a also hasa similar washing and moisture extracting apparatus which is mounted ona pan 62 having a pair of drains 63 for conducting away the cleansingliquid and also the moisture extracted from the belt after beingcleaned. This belt also has additional moisture expressing meansconsisting of two rolls 59a engaging the belt above and below and heldyieldingly toward each other to express the belt by means of a weightmounted on a lever upon which the upper roll is journaled. A pan 59b isprovided beneath the rolls to'carry away the moisture-extracted from thebelt.

In Figs. 2, 2a and 4, the upper belt 14a and the'upper rol'ls are shownfor the sake of -clearness as not contacting the side guides anadjustable roll 65 which may be used to adjust the belt so as to causeit to run in proper alinement. The belt 14a also has an adjusting roll66, while the belt 17 has adjusting roll 67 and alining roll 68 similarto belt 11.

When it is desired t corrugate or emboss the materlal with -some deslgn,a suitable embossing-roll is substituted for the upper roll 25 whichimpressesits design upon the material previous to its being cut ofi' bythe knife 11. 4In'this case the material is not compressed in thehydraulic press. y

The rotary knife for cutting the sheet of material into the desiredlengths is operated by a hand wheel 69 and has means for adjustmentthereof relatively to the plate 70 as illustrated in Fig. 6. i The knifeis mounted in a yoke 71 to which the knife is clamped by means of a bolt72. The latter extends through a slot 7 3 in the knife blade, which slotallows for the adjustment of the blade upwardly or. downwardly when thelblade is loosened so as to unclamp the-same from the yoke. The plate 70is supported at its ends by means of two upwardly extending ,anges 74and' is slightly flexibleor yielding at the point of contact of theknife therewith, so as to produce a snug engagement of the knifetherewith for the purpose of properly cutting 0H vthe material.

The belts 11 and 17 are supported at the table in any desired manner asby means of a plurality of small rolls 75.Y The moisture or waterextracted from the material and also the jwater used in cleaningthebelts may be conveniently drained by-means of an inclined channel orgutter 76 running the length of the conveyer table and directly belowthe same and a drain pipe 77 may bef formed at the lowest portion oftheincline.

Any desired means may be used for adjusting the rolls for the purposeofgaging the sheet and also applying pressure thereon forexpressing themoisture. I provide an Yadjustable bearing for each top roll which is Imoved up and down by a screw operated 'by a hand wheel 7 8. rllhe twowheels for the bearings may be connected so as to rotate together bymeans of a sprocket chain 7 9 or any other suitable motion transmittingmeans. I

Many changes .may be made within the scope of this invention, and partsof the improvements may be used without the others.

Having thus described my inventlon, ll claim as new:

1. ln apparatus for molding plastic material in the form of sheets, ahopper, a chamber or casing extending therefrom, a pair of'rolls.mounted at the bottom of the hopper, adapted to compress and advancesaid material, a conveyer in said chamber disposed beyond saidrolls,.and a pair of gage rolls below said conveyer.

2. In apparatus for molding plastic material in the form of sheets, ahopper, a. chamber or casing extending therefrom, a pair of rollsmounted at the bottom of thev hopper, a screw conveyer in saidchamber,and a pair of gage rolls below said conveyer.

3. ln apparatus of the character described, a conveyer, adapted to carrya sheet of plastic material, means for compressing said sheet comprisinga pair of rolls, means for conveying the material to said rolls, andmeans for applying lubricant to the surface of one of said rolls for thepurpose of preventing the material adhering thereto.

4. In apparatus of the character described, a conveyer adapted to carrya sheet of plastic material, means for automatically conveying a spacingmember, means for guiding said spacing member under said/ sheet asitpasses from the conveyer, said spacing member being adapted to preventthe sheets from adhering to each other when they are compressed in apile, and means for spreading a film of oil upon said spacing memberprevious to its insertion under the sheet. Y

5. In apparatus of the character described, a conveyer adapted to'carrya sheet of plastic material, means for automatically conveying a spacingmember, means for guiding said spacing member under said sheet as itpasses from the conveyer, said spacing member being adapted to preventthe sheets from adhering to each other when they are compressed in apile, and means for automatically cleaning said spacing member as itisbeing conveyed.

1.6. In apparatus of the character described, a conveyer adapted tocarry a sheet of material, a second conveyer inclined to said firstconveyer and-2 extending ldown-y 'wardly therefrom, guides extendingover` the top of said inclined conveyer, said second conveyer havingmeans for` conveying a plate to the level of the rst conveyer, saidincassa I yplate engaging said guides whereby it is positioned underthesheet of material which isfed thereon and carried thereby.

7. In apparatus ofv thel character described, a conveyer having guidingmeans extending longitudinally thereof, a second conveyer inclined tosaid first conveyer and adapted to convey a spacing member upon Whichthe material fed from the first conyeyer is deposited, and coating meansfor the material arranged .between` said conveyers. f

8. ln apparatus of the character described, a conveyer adapted to conveya sheet of material, guides arranged longitudinally thereof, a secondconveyer, hooks carried by said second conveyer adapted to engage a.plate to b'e carried thereby, said plate being adapted to engage saidguides and to be fed longitudinally of said conveyer in said guides froma position of inclination to said first conveyer.

9. In apparatus of the y character described, a conveyer adapted tocarry a sheet of material, means for feeding a spacing member to aposition along said conveyer below .said material so as to receive alength of material thereon, means for conveying said plate and 'lengthof material, and an adjustable run-wayf for guiding said plates andsheets to be piled one on top of another.

10. ln apparatus of the character de scribed, a conveyer belt adapted tocarry a sheet of material, a. second conveyer belt extending above thematerial and terminating ata point in the rear of the end of the firstmentioned belt, gaging rolls mounted in advance of said second belt,`-and means for supplying lubricant to the upper of said rolls. y Y

11. In apparatus of the character described, a conveyer belt adapted tocarry a sheet of material, a second conveyer belt extending above thematerial and terminating at a point in the rear of the end of the firstmentioned belt, gaging rolls mounted in advance of said second belt,means for supplying lubricant to the upper of said rolls, and means forspreading the 'lubricant 12.. ln [apparatus of the character described,a conveyer belt adapted to carry a sheet of material, a secondconveyerbelt extending above the material and terminating at a' point inthe rear of the end of the first mentioned belt, gaging rolls mounted inadvance of said second belt, means for supplying lubricant to the upperof said rolls, a roll of soft material contacting with the gaging rollrand', adapted to spread the lubricant.

13. lln apparatus of the character described, aconveyer, adapted tocarry 'a sheet of plastic material, a flexible support in alinement withsaid conveyer, and an adjustable knife mounted above. said flexiblesupport for cutting said material as it passes over said support.

14. In apparatus of the character described, a table, a pair of guidesmounted longitudinally thereof, a belt mounted on said table andextending below the guides, a

roll mounted above the belt and having itsl ends fitting snugly againstthe guides, a roll mounted below the belt and extending under theguides, and a facing of comparatively soft material at the bottom of theguides, contacting the belt.

Signed at Poughkeepsie, in the county of?v v Dutchess and State of NewYork, this 29th day of J une A. D. 1912.

JOHANN FERLA.

I Witnesses:

FLORENCE CHILDS, A. W. HAIGHT.

